Tech is a booming industry, but challenges remain—and for women in the industry, there are added hurdles to get ahead.
A new survey from tech service provider Ensono found that 85% of women in tech want to advance to the C-suite. But while women make up 48% of those in tech, according to a 2024 McKinsey Women in the Workplace report, they only account for 29% of executive roles.
HackerOne CEO Kara Sprague told IT Brew that, as a techno-optimist, she believes in the ability of the sector to live up to its potential. To do that, she continued, it needs to expand its pool of those in charge.
“In order for us to build the right technology and build solutions that don’t inappropriately disadvantage various communities or groups, it’s important that we have the right level of representation building it,” Sprague said. “So, I do think it’s a notable issue that should be addressed from a societal level.”
Big moves. Those societal challenges, Sysdig Cybersecurity Strategist Crystal Morin said, are something that shouldn’t still be an issue. Morin said that when it comes to needing to step away, as some women will in order to raise children, there should be a path back in.
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A woman Morin met through women in cybersecurity advocacy group WiCys was out of the workforce for 20 years homeschooling her children and was “absolutely terrified…even though she’s been maintaining her sys admin career…part-time for a nonprofit [the] entire time.”
“She knows her stuff…I’ve been trying to boost her confidence and tell her that she can apply for jobs,” Morin said. “She’s just afraid…she doesn’t think she’s qualified because she hasn’t had a full-time job.”
Unbiased. Sprague, who was a board member of Girls Who Code from 2016 to 2022, said that in order to make those changes, tech needs to start at the ground floor—whether in companies or at the college level. Young women entering the industry need to feel that they’re welcome and comfortable in order to combat existing biases and roadblocks, she said. Techniques aimed at removing bias in résumé screening and interviews, for example, are helpful.
“I think everybody should be focusing on thinking through what will drive the best business outcome,” Sprague said. “That means a couple of things—being as unbiased as possible and meritocratic in your core business processes, in your candidate selection, in your actual interviewing, and in your performance evaluation.”